Bill to speed water projects goes up for House vote

A view of the Santa Ana River after a weekend storm in 2012. The river project is Orange County's best example of a public works flood control project, the type of project that would be supported by the water infrastructure bill. FILE PHOTO: SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Why it matters

The House and Senate water bills both include provisions to restart a two-year reauthorization process for infrastructure. Congress last passed such bills in 2007 and 2001. Until then, water infrastructure legislation had been passed every two years so the Army Corps of Engineers could begin new projects and have continuing work evaluated and re-authorized. Re-establishing that process is one aim of this new legislation.

Did you know?

Waterways and ports support 348,965 jobs in California, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

WASHINGTON – The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on a water infrastructure bill that would modify environmental regulations in an effort to speed along building projects related to ports, locks and flood control.

It is the first major bill to be taken up by Congress since the shutdown. Some familiar fault lines are apparent: Tea Party-style conservatives who oppose increased spending have joined with environmentally focused Democrats to oppose the bill, while more moderate Republicans are in favor, citing jobs and trade benefits. The bill is expected to pass.

OC Public Works says the proposal could help it complete projects faster, but environmental groups are concerned the wetlands will be harmed.

The Senate passed a $12 billion version of the bill in May. The House version authorizes roughly $9 billion in new spending and deauthorizes $12 billion in projects approved years ago, but never started, to offset spending on the new projects. The House bill also would put a heavy emphasis on overhauling the environmental review process.

At the core of the legislation is what Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Penn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, calls the 3-3-3 plan.

The water bill would limit Army Corps of Engineers feasibility studies to three years and $3 million. Studies now routinely take 10 to 15 years, with no spending cap. The proposal also would require the three levels of the Army Corps – district, division and headquarters – to perform reviews concurrently, rather than sequentially as they’re done now.

Vincent Gin, manager for OC Public Works’ engineering project management division, told the Register that “there’s a lot of potential” in the legislation to streamline the environmental review process.

Gin noted a provision that would give the Army Corps a lead role in environmental reviews. The Corps, he said, would “organize, not override” other agencies involved in reviews, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We deal with so many agencies and so many permits,” Gin said. “It can really cause the project to be long.”

Two Orange County projects – a flood-control feasibility study in Westminster and another in San Juan Capistrano – could be completed more quickly if the environmental streamlining provisions were to become law, he said.

Environmental groups, though, said delays aren’t caused by reviews, but by poorly planned projects. “It takes awhile to get through these issues,” said Ron Stork, policy director at Friends of the River Foundation in Sacramento. “Three years might be woefully inadequate” to understand a project’s full implications.

Emily Goff, a research associate at the conservative Heritage Foundation, is concerned that the bill doesn’t go far enough, calling the 3-3-3 plan nothing more than a “good gesture.”

Goff cited similar provisions in the 2012 highway bill, whose backers promised it would facilitate completion of highway projects. Goff said the law’s two biggest proponents, Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, are now concerned those changes aren’t being implemented quickly enough.

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